Rossini: Il Signor Bruschino

Virtuosi Italiani

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Cat No: 8660128

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Release Date: 01 June 2004

Label: Naxos / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 730099612821

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: ROSSINI

Description
Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868)Il Signor BruschinoBorn in Pesaro in 1792, the son of a horn-player and asinger, Rossini even in childhood had experience of the theatre, both as anorchestral player and as a singer himself. His first professional success as acomposer of opera came in 1810 with La cambiale di matrimonio (The MarriageContract), the first of five such light-hearted works for the Teatro San Mois?¿in Venice. Il Signor Bruschino is the last of these one-act operas, in styleprefiguring what was to come.In the course of only a few years Rossini built up areputation in Italy, with a series of operas, both comic and tragic. In 1822 hewas in Vienna for a season of his operas there and the following year hisSemiramide was staged at La Fenice in Venice. This marked the end of Rossini'scareer in Italy as an opera-composer. In recent years there had been attractiveoffers from abroad, a mark of his widespread popularity. Now married to thesoprano Isabella Colbran, whose career was drawing to a close, he moved toParis, the city for which his later operas were written, at first Il viaggio aReims at the The?ótre Italien, followed by revisions of two earlier works forthe Paris Opera, and finally Le Comte Ory and, in 1829, the demanding four-actGuillaume Tell. There were negotiations for a new opera based on Goethe'sFaust, but the fall of the restored Bourbon monarchy and the rise to power of anew government under the so-called citizen king Louis-Philippe, with morestringent financial policies, ended Rossini's contract for further operas and, forthe moment, the life annuity that had been granted him. This was only restoredsix years later, after much aggravation. By now Rossini was, in any case,exhausted. He had written 39 operas in less than twenty years and won anastonishing degree of popular adulation. He now divided his time between Parisand Bologna, finding some relief from the company of his wife, who remained inBologna, with Olympe Pelissier. In 1837 he eventually separated from Colbran,but it was only after his wife's death in 1845 that Rossini was able to marryhis mistress.The later years of Rossini's life found him concerned withmusic in Bologna, notably as consultant to the Liceo Musicale. Growingpolitical disturbance there led him to move first to Florence, and then, in1855, to France. He built a villa for himself at Passy, and during his finalyears occupied himself with writing the varied pieces that form his so-calledPeches de vieillesse (Sins of Old Age). His historical reputation was secure,in spite of changes in operatic fashion, and he continued to enjoy fame as awit and as a gourmet. Performances of his operas at one time concentrated onopera buffa, the style that Beethoven had recommended him to follow duringRossini's visit to Vienna in 1822, and Il barbiere di Siviglia has always heldits place in operatic repertoire. More recent years have also broughtperformances of Rossini's more serious works, as the demanding technical skillsrequi
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